Etymologically
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iustifico

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [juːsˈtɪ.fɪ.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [jusˈtiː.fi.ko][1]

Forms

iūstificō (present infinitive iūstificāre, perfect active iūstificāvī, supine iūstificātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin iūstus (“just”) + faciō (“to make”).[2][1] Lewis & Short and Etymonline derive it from iūstificus “acting justly”.[3][4] Augustine explains that a sinner is justified when he is made just from unjust.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian uses it in Against Marcion for doing justice to a widow, and of a sinful woman made just by faith.[3][2][5]

Semantic evolution

It belongs to Christian Latin, from the Old Latin Bible on, and the Vulgate kept it, as in volēns iūstificāre sē ipsum, “wishing to justify himself”, in Luke.[2] Its central sense was to make or declare righteous, and in theology to justify a sinner by grace.[2][3][6] The poets Ausonius, Prudentius and Paulinus of Nola use it once each.[2]

In the Middle Ages it was also a legal word: to do justice to someone, to bring a person to justice or try them, to judge a crime or settle a case, to acquit, and to correct or set right.[7][8] Through Old French justifiier it became English justify.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of doing justice and of justification by faith.[3][2][5]
  • after 220 AD – The Old Latin Bible (Itala) uses it.[2][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Luke.[2][5]
  • 796 – Alcuin writes that the Holy Spirit justifies the soul by faith.[8]
  • 1101 – A royal charter uses it for bringing adversaries to justice.[8]
  • c. 1300 – English borrows it as justify, first “to administer justice”.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (Late Latin) To act justly towards, do justice to.[3][2][1]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To make or declare righteous, justify; to absolve.[2][3][6]
  3. (Medieval Latin) To bring to justice, try; to judge.[7][8]
  4. (Medieval Latin) To acquit.[7]
  5. (Medieval Latin) To correct, set right.[7]

Word family

  • iūstificātiō
  • iūstificātor
  • iustificatrix

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press